Many years ago Orson Wells produced a radio drama of an imaginary attack from outer space. My dad told about this, and said that a LOT of people did not understand that it was a play, but thought it was real. He said that his brother had his 30-30 down from the rack, cleaned it, oiled it well, and loaded it up for the coming battle with the Martians. And his mother sat in her rocker, her Bible in her lap, and said very calmly; “The Bible said there would be times like this!”

I read about a student at Campbell College in North Carolina who turned on his radio midway through the broadcast and did not realize he was hearing a fictitious report. When the announcer vividly described fire falling upon the earth, the student recalled some sermons from his boyhood years and concluded that the end of the world had come. He grabbed the telephone and called home, saying: "Mama, Mama, have you got your radio on? The fire is falling, the end of the world is coming, and I'm not ready to meet God!"
The next morning he was the object of jokes and teasing around the campus, but in the chapel service a godly Bible teacher took the podium and said, "I understand that one of the boys got a lot of ribbing because he got scared listening to the radio program last night. But, young men and women, what if it had truly been the end of the world last night -- would you be ready?"

I’m not sure about my uncle, but my grandmother was definitely ready.

I have found myself in situations of grave danger. My solution each time was to have a loaded gun in my hand and a fervent prayer on my lips. One or the other, or both, are sufficient for any situation.

Mark 13:32-37 (KJV); “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”

Count your blessings!" That is excellent counsel, but sometimes we have to recognize them first!
A man who owned a small estate wished to sell it. Sending for a real estate agent, he asked him to write an advertisement describing the house and land.
When the ad was ready, the agent took it to the owner and read it to him. "Read that again," said the owner.
The agent read the description of the estate once more. "I don't think I will sell after all," said the owner. "I have been looking for an estate like that all my life, and I did not know that I owned it!"
Count your blessings -- yes, but start by asking God to open your eyes to see your possessions in Christ. Begin by recognizing all that you have in Christ. That will change your entire perspective and enable you to praise God for what you have.

Ephesians 3:14-19 (KJV);
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

We ALL have a fantastic estate – we just need someone to describe it to us now and then!

1 Corinthians 2:9 (KJV);
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

William D. Boyd wrote this in Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome:

Some years ago a young man approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job. "That depends," replied the foreman. "Let's see you fell this tree." The young man stepped forward and skillfully felled a great tree. Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, "Start Monday!"

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by, and Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, "You can pick up your paycheck on the way out today."

Startled, he replied, "I thought you paid on Friday."

"Normally we do," answered the foreman, "but we're letting you go today because you've fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you've dropped from first place on Monday to last on Wednesday."

"But I'm a hard worker," the young man objected. "I arrive first, leave last, and even have worked through my coffee breaks!"

The foreman, sensing the boy's integrity thought for a minute and then asked, "Have you been sharpening your ax?"

The young man replied, "I've been working too hard to take the time."

How about you? Have you been too busy, too hard at work to sharpen your ax? You say you don’t know what I’m talking about? Your MINISTRY is your ax! Your witness is your ax. How do you sharpen it? Prayer and Bible study! These two make up the hone that gives you that sharp edge. Without it, the more work you do, the duller you'll get, and the less effective you are.

Daniel; 9:13 (KJV);
“As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.”

Remember those old parting words "Keep your powder dry"?
We can now add to them "And your ax sharp!"

Today is a feast day commemorating the beheading of John the Baptist. This day is celebrated in the Catholic, Lutheran, Church of England and many other Christian churches, and is one of the oldest feasts on the calendar. Eastern Orthadox and some other churches celebrate this as a fast day instead of a feast day.

The story of the martyrdom of St. John is told in several places. King Herod, lusting after his Step-daughter, promised her whatever she asked. On her mother's advice, she asked for the head of John the Baptist. Harod did as she asked:Mark 6:27 (KJV);
“And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,”

Josephus gave an additional reason in Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 5, section 2;
“Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do any thing he should advise,) thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late.”

That might explain why Herod did not argue too much against killing this man of God.

Scripture tells us of the danger of Lust:Proverbs 6:25 (KJV);
Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

Matthew 5:28 (KJV);
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Make sure your heart is right, and your actions are not being directed by lust when dealing with someone of the opposite sex; be very careful not to lose your head over them!

Amen, Terry. I made this a watchword for myself a long time ago:
Job 31:1
“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman."

Yesterday's made me think of a verse I've heard Dad quote many times, and have tried to put into my lifestyle...
Proverbs 27:17
"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."
Ever watched a bird? I have noticed some birds constantly whetting their beaks on a branch wherever they perched, constantly keeping their beaks sharp.
We practice, practice, practice at the range to keep skills up; the same is true with our life in Christ. Word, prayer, witnessing, fellowship are the four skills I need to keep "whetting my beak" on.

The late Dr. Ralph Byron was an outstanding Christian surgeon. Early in his medical profession he sought for a way to make life count. Professionally and personally, he wanted to be a man of God. One day in his search for godliness, he came across Ezekiel 22:30:

And I searched for a man among them who should build up the
wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I
should not destroy it; but I found no one.

Dr. Byron pondered this kind of question: "Would God find me standing in the gap?" Here he was a young surgeon with the press of responsibility all around him, and he answered the question honestly, "No, not right now." He concluded that in order for him to be a man of God, he must continually place a priority on prayer. At first, it was very difficult, because his duties were numerous. He decided that the only way for him to have time with God would be to get up very early. He set aside the time of 5:30 a.m., which he called "an unearthly hour." But he did it. It was the best time, in light of his busy schedule. Week after week. The remarkable thing he discovered was that within just two weeks, he began to have a quality of life he had never known before. He saw two men trust Christ. He discovered that a major conflict in their church had been resolved -- dissolved is a better word -- as he committed it faithfully to God in prayer. And so he concluded, "It was apparent to me that I must give prayer top priority, even if it means getting less than six hours of sleep every night."

There is no limit to what can be accomplished by a mere human being who finally comes to the realization that he can do nothing without God, but that God will work through him to accomplish great things.

Be such a person! Delve into God’s word, take it to heart, believe it and follow it!

The early Egyptians depended on annual flooding of the Nile for their good crops. Receding flood waters left a rich black silt and assured the harvest. When the river failed to flood, it meant that the poor soil could produce very little, leading to a winter of hunger, so people thronged to their temples asking their gods to make the Nile overflow. Today the Aswan Dam controls the river's flow, and scientific planning sends the floods downriver at just the right time. In other places farmers often faced droughts that caused crop failure and poverty. All they could do about it was to pray for rain. But now vast irrigation systems have alleviated this condition.

Does this mean that prayer is no longer necessary? Far from it! We've met some of our need for physical power, but our spiritual strength is actually weakened when we depend on mechanical resources rather than on God.

We now control our environment in so many ways; when it’s cold, we have a thermostat that brings the heat on higher. When it rains and snows, we hardly notice in our tight, modern, climate controlled houses. We buy most of our food from Kroger, and some of us even forget that it requires rain and a good season to bring the food to us. As we become more isolated from the fundamentals of our daily needs, we have to make a special effort to remember that all comes from God. We must never neglect him, for without his blessings, we could not draw our next breath!

Revelation 3:17-21 (KJV);
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

I believe it was Martin Luther who said he had so much to do tomorrow that he must get up at 3 or 4 in the morning to pray through it all.

Lamentations 3:22-24 is what I thought of from today's message...
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

Howard Hendricks told a story about his church in Dallas that was having trouble finding a teacher for a junior high boys class. The list of prospects had only one name -- and when they told him who it was he said, "You've got to be kidding." But he couldn't have been more wrong about that young man. He took the class and revolutionized it. Hendricks continues:
“I was so impressed I invited him to my home for lunch and asked him the secret of his success. He pulled out a little black book. On each page he had a small picture of one of the boys, and under the boy's name were comments like "having trouble in arithmetic," or "comes to church against parents' wishes," or "would like to be a missionary some day, but doesn't think he has what it takes."
"I pray over those pages every day," he said, "and I can hardly wait to come to church each Sunday to see what God has been doing in their lives."
Isn’t that a great story? How do you stack up against that young man? There are MANY Christians today that do not know the names of people they sit behind every Sunday! I remember one young man that I invited to our church in IL many years ago. He asked me about it, and I told him about how it was small and struggling it was. He never come to visit even once. He said he did not care for small churches; he preferred to go to a big church where he could get lost in the crowd, and no one expected him to do anything.

James 5:16-20 (KJV);
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”

Amen, Terry;
Christian Businessmen's Committee (CBMC) has a thing called their "10 most wanted list"--10 people who are not yet Christians listed on a small card we could keep with us and pray for on a regular basis. At CBMC meetings we would take turns praying for people on each other's lists.

I have to admit I only carry the list in my head nowdays, and I don't have 10 people listed on it right now, but I could have. TFF has also added a fair number of prayer requests.

Today, I will talk about another person for whom prayer made major changes - not only in their life, but in all of our lives. George Hervey interviewed Samuel F.B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph. In that interview, he asked, "Professor Morse, when you were making your experiments at the university, did you ever come to a standstill, not knowing what to do next?"
"Oh, yes, more than once."
"Then what did you do?"
"I've never discussed this with anyone, so the public knows nothing about it. But now that you ask me, I'll tell you frankly -- I prayed for more light."
"And did God give you the wisdom and knowledge you needed?"
"Yes, He did," said Morse. "That's why I never felt I deserved the honors that came to me from America and Europe because of the invention associated with my name. I had made a valuable application of the use of electrical power, but it was all through God's help. It wasn't because I was superior to other scientists. When the Lord wanted to bestow this gift on mankind, He had to use someone. I'm just grateful He chose to reveal it to me."
I don’t know how familiar you are with Samuel Morse and his invention, but I have had a fascination with long distance communication my whole life, and have read about all the early inventors in the field. When I read this interview with Samuel Morse, it became very clear to me why Morse chose that first message to ever use the Telegraph: "What hath God wrought!"

The Word of God tells us how to attain wisdom and knowledge:

Proverbs 2:3-7 (KJV);
Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

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